An Actual Question

Hey All:

I don't come here very often because I haven't been finding any real technical question's in this forum lately.

After reading Phil's post from Feb 20, 2002, I had hoped to see more helpful info on the first few pages of this forum.

But instead I find mostly 50% post's of people's images, which by the way
according to Phil should be posted in the "Samples and Galleries" forum,
but I digress.

Anyway, I thought I'd actually ask a question in regard to my c3040.

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I have to go

shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am a little fearful of being able to capture her in motion and yet keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower speeds
but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode, S mode but just can't
seem to master it with out blur.

Any suggestion's?

dvg

Hey there, DVG-

The trick is to "pan." Follow your subject as she approaches you and when she is in the position you want, then fire off the shutter. CONTINUE to follow her after you've released the shutter. I'd use the fastest shutter possible to reduce blur, but with a fairly wide aperture to get the motion effect. This technique works perfectly with film and Im assuming it will work the same with digital. (I just bought my first digital 2 months ago and still learning the camera.) Another thing you can do to ensure you get good stop-action is to use your flash in combination with the previous techniques. In P-sports mode the flash will fire in sync with your shutter and the strobe effect will stop the action and minimize blurring. dont try this with cars passing by!!
Good luck,
RT

DVG_85 said:

Hey All:

I don't come here very often because I haven't been finding any
real technical question's in this forum lately.

After reading Phil's post from Feb 20, 2002, I had hoped to see
more helpful info on the first few pages of this forum.

But instead I find mostly 50% post's of people's images, which by
the way
according to Phil should be posted in the "Samples and Galleries"
forum,
but I digress.

Anyway, I thought I'd actually ask a question in regard to my c3040.

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I
have to go
shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am a little fearful
of being able to capture her in motion and yet keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower
speeds
but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode, S mode but
just can't
seem to master it with out blur.

Any suggestion's?

dvg

Click to expand...

Hi DVG.

Another thing you might try is to prefocus on an object at the same distance you expect to be shooting at. Keep the finger on the half pressed trigger and from there on go as the Thunder Man said.

Maxven

rollin'thunder said:

DVG_85 said:

Hey All:

I don't come here very often because I haven't been finding any
real technical question's in this forum lately.

After reading Phil's post from Feb 20, 2002, I had hoped to see
more helpful info on the first few pages of this forum.

But instead I find mostly 50% post's of people's images, which by
the way
according to Phil should be posted in the "Samples and Galleries"
forum,
but I digress.

Anyway, I thought I'd actually ask a question in regard to my c3040.

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I
have to go
shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am a little fearful
of being able to capture her in motion and yet keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower
speeds
but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode, S mode but
just can't
seem to master it with out blur.

Any suggestion's?

dvg

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi DVG,

The problem as I see it is the auto focus. The time it takes the camera to auto focus means you loose the shot you want. You may want to try the manual focus option, depending on the focal length you use and your apature setting, the depth of field you have may be ok to use manual focus.

In this situation, and as your pics are valuable I would suggest some planning. Go to the rink before the event and try some shots with different techniques,see what speeds and aperture settings are required and take some pics. Try and find out the program of events, will you need group shots, how close can you get to the subject.

Previous posts are also valid, but a couple of hours practice before hand may make all the difference.

Best of luck

Ray Logan

The

DVG_85 said:

Hey All:

I don't come here very often because I haven't been finding any
real technical question's in this forum lately.

After reading Phil's post from Feb 20, 2002, I had hoped to see
more helpful info on the first few pages of this forum.

But instead I find mostly 50% post's of people's images, which by
the way
according to Phil should be posted in the "Samples and Galleries"
forum,
but I digress.

Anyway, I thought I'd actually ask a question in regard to my c3040.

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I
have to go
shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am a little fearful
of being able to capture her in motion and yet keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower
speeds
but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode, S mode but
just can't
seem to master it with out blur.

Any suggestion's?

dvg

Click to expand...

--RAY L.

Good recommendation to plan ahead... one other thing you can try is to attend one of your niece's practices before the competition, and learn her routine. That way you can anticipate where and when she's going to be and have a better chance of being focused and ready on that spot.

Also, if you pre-focus by pressing half-way, you can avoid finger cramp by switching to manual focus immediately afterward to "lock" that setting.

Ray Logan said:

The problem as I see it is the auto focus. The time it takes the
camera to auto focus means you loose the shot you want. You may
want to try the manual focus option, depending on the focal length
you use and your apature setting, the depth of field you have may
be ok to use manual focus.
In this situation, and as your pics are valuable I would suggest
some planning. Go to the rink before the event and try some shots
with different techniques,see what speeds and aperture settings are
required and take some pics. Try and find out the program of
events, will you need group shots, how close can you get to the
subject.
Previous posts are also valid, but a couple of hours practice
before hand may make all the difference.

Best of luck

Ray Logan

The

DVG_85 said:

Hey All:

I don't come here very often because I haven't been finding any
real technical question's in this forum lately.

After reading Phil's post from Feb 20, 2002, I had hoped to see
more helpful info on the first few pages of this forum.

But instead I find mostly 50% post's of people's images, which by
the way
according to Phil should be posted in the "Samples and Galleries"
forum,
but I digress.

Anyway, I thought I'd actually ask a question in regard to my c3040.

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I
have to go
shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am a little fearful
of being able to capture her in motion and yet keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower
speeds
but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode, S mode but
just can't
seem to master it with out blur.

Any suggestion's?

dvg

Click to expand...

--
RAY L.

Click to expand...

Try using a higher ISO. You can remove most of the noise in post-processing.
--More people are caused by accidents than are killed by them.

DVG_85 wrote:
[...]

Don Sider said:

What I'd like to know is how can I shoot moving objects best, I
have to go shoot my niece in a ice skating competition and am
a little fearful of being able to capture her in motion and yet
keep her in focus.

I've been testing myself by trying to capture moving cars at slower
speeds but can't seem to get it just right. I've tried P mode,
S mode but just can't seem to master it with out blur.

Click to expand...

So much depends on the exact situation.

The key to avoiding motion blur is to use the highest shutter speed possible, set in S mode. Of course, this depends in part on how much light is available--assuming you aren't using flash.

Someone else mentioned panning, which can produce nice effects with blurred backgrounds, but you might not want to depend on that, as it does take some practice.

Focus is a separate issue. As others have said, if you know just where the action will occur and can pre-focus, you'll be ahead of the game in that regard. If there are a range of set distances that you could use, you could see if you can use manual focus to hit particular points. That would probably take a lot of practice to get good at, assuming that it is possible at all.

If there is sufficient light, you could pick the lowest shutter speed that will work for the subject (I assume that skaters move pretty quickly), which could let you stop down the lens more and gain some depth of field.

Finally, the farther away you are from the subject, the more depth of field you'll have available, but the trade-off is a smaller image. I'm not sure how useful this is at the distances involved in shooting athletic events.----Mike Wright

One last idea-

Sit with the brightest source of light behind you. Figure out the spot on the floor that is lit the best by watching the skaters move throughout the rink. Prefocus on this spot. Shoot your pics as your neice goes through this spot.

Maybe not practical, but it would work in theory to give you the best chance at depth of field and fast shutter.

Post your best picture when you're done and tell us how you did it - sometimes the best way to learn about technical issues is to post pictures. 8^)

Steven
D7, C2100, S300

Steven Sterne said:

One last idea-

Sit with the brightest source of light behind you. Figure out the
spot on the floor that is lit the best by watching the skaters move
throughout the rink. Prefocus on this spot. Shoot your pics as your
neice goes through this spot.

Maybe not practical, but it would work in theory to give you the
best chance at depth of field and fast shutter.

Post your best picture when you're done and tell us how you did it

• sometimes the best way to learn about technical issues is to post

pictures. 8^)

Steven
D7, C2100, S300

Click to expand...

Thank's Steven,Mike,Cerebrix,Inigo,Ray,Maxven and Thunder:

You've given me some great idea's and advice, now I guess it's up to
me to take the best shot's I can.
Wish me luck, because these are the kinda moment's (my niece's skating
performance) where you really only get one chance to get it right.

The advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!

dvg

Dont forget to consider the motion vector. That is an object coming directly at you or going directly away will capture with less blur than an object crossing at right angles to the lens. Shot planning... Panning.. motion vector...prefocus...higher ISO... lot of lil tricks to make the best of a moving target when the light wont let you set up on a high shutter speed..

Max--The early bird gets the worm...but the second mouse gets the cheese! http://www.pbase.com/maxxxam